The Chicago Bulls, if they amnesty Carlos Boozer, will have significant cap room this summer. They’d have viable starters at point guard (Derrick Rose), shooting guard (Jimmy Butler), power forward (Taj Gibson) and center (Joakim Noah). That would leave a hole at only small forward, assuming Tony Snell isn’t ready to step into a bigger role and Mike Dunleavy plays his age.

Who will be the top small forwards at least potentially on the market?

But his pragmatic approach is best. If the Bulls are the best spot for him, there’s no reason not to consider them. Otherwise, Deng might just be punishing himself for the next four years purely out of spite.

For the same reasons, the Bulls should consider re-signing Deng. They’d know what they’re getting – a good player who’s well-liked among the team – and he might be the missing piece. For their trouble, they would have avoided a year of the luxury tax and acquired a few draft picks. Not a bad deal.

A good example of such a trade-and-return was the San Antonio Spurs sending Sean Elliot to the Detroit Pistons in 1993 for Dennis Rodman. Elliot struggled with the Pistons, and while he was a restricted free agent the following summer, Detroit traded him back to San Antonio (which was apparently allowed then).

History repeating itself with Deng is a longshot – a real longshot. The Bulls likely traded Deng to seek a big upgrade. But if they strike out and Deng is the best fit left on the market…

In fact, in Saturday’s dunk contest, he didn’t look like a dunker at all.

The Pacers star missed all three attempts of his first dunk, and a Black Panther mask was by far the biggest draw of his second. Oladipo was eliminated after the first round.

Maybe Dennis Smith Jr. wasn’t the only eliminated dunker who left something in his bag. This Oladipo dunk – 180 degrees, throwing ball off the backboard with his left hand while in mid-air, dunking with his right hand – while preparing in Los Angeles was awesome.

A statement released Wednesday by the NFL and NBA clubs says their 90-year-old owner is resting comfortably at Ochsner Medical Center, a hospital which also serves as a major sponsor and which owns naming rights to the teams’ training headquarters.

Benson has owned the New Orleans Saints since 1985 and bought the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012.

In recent years, Benson has overhauled his estate plan so that his third wife, Gayle, would be first in line to inherit control of the two major professional franchises.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he’d be surprised if Kawhi Leonard played again this season, a stark reversal from just a month ago. Back then, even while announcing Leonard was out indefinitely with a quad injury, the San Antonio coach said Leonard wouldn’t miss the rest of the season.

After spending 10 days before the All-Star break in New York consulting with a specialist to gather a second opinion on his right quad injury, All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard bears the burden of determining when he’s prepared to play again, sources told ESPN.

Leonard has been medically cleared to return from the right quad tendinopathy injury, but since shutting down a nine-game return to the Spurs that ended Jan. 13, he has elected against returning to the active roster, sources said.

The uncertainty surrounding this season — and Leonard’s future which could include free agency in the summer of 2019 — has inspired a palpable stress around the organization, league sources said.

At first glance, this sounds like Derrick Rose five years ago. Even after he was cleared to play following a torn ACL, the then-Bulls star remained mysterious about when he’d suit up. His confidence in his physical abilities seemed to be a major issue, and he was never the same player since (suffering more leg injuries).

But the Spurs famously favor resting players to preserve long-term health. They seem unlikely to rush back Leonard. They might even sit players who want to play more often. And Leonard isn’t Rose.

Still, it’s clear something is amiss in San Antonio. Maybe not amiss enough to end Leonard’s tenure there, but the longer this lingers, the more time for tension to percolate.